What Are You Training For?

Focusing  Your Physical Conditioning

Defensive Concepts

    Fitness is, and has been, a growth industry in this country. It seems that there is always

some new device, gizmo or piece of equipment to pump us up. You go to the store and

look on the magazine rack. Muscle this, Fitness that, magazines for women only, men

only, men and women. Most of these publications are geared toward the body building

life style. In other words, they tell you how to look good in a bathing suit or while posing

on stage wearing a glorified fig leaf.

    Now, I have nothing against looking good on the beach (the whole stage thing is a

little weird to me so we won't go there). I personally think that a fine looking woman in a

swimsuit is one of God's gifts to man. I also know there are times at the beach when we

all wanted to find a sharp stick. 

    The point (no pun intended) is this. You need to tailor your physical training to what

you do, not necessarily how you look. Let me give you a few examples. A police officer

can expect in his career to chase someone on foot and then have to control (read that

fight) them after the chase. So he should gear his training accordingly.  A SWAT operator

may have to climb several flights of stairs with a 40 pound ram before making entry to an

apartment or duck walk along the side of a house or behind a shield.  A military special

operator may have to run an unknown distance, set up a hasty ambush and then run some

more. Protective operations agents need to be able to manhandle their principal out of the

line of fire and into a safe area. Looking at it from a sports perspective, a tournament

fighter's training regimen is going to differ greatly from a NHB fighter getting ready for a

cage match. On the other hand, if you're a private citizen interested only in self protection

you don't necessarily need to invest the hours in fitness training that the afore mentioned

groups do. We need to tailor our training to make it more job specific. If you want to try

and build 21 inch arms that's fine but if you think it will aid you in self defense or the

tactical arena you may be fooling yourself.

    Fitness is based on several attributes, strength, endurance (anaerobic and aerobic) and

flexibility are primary parts of the equation.

    Lets begin with strength. The stronger a person is the better. That is something

everyone can agree on. But what kind of strength are you building? Functional, practical

strength is what we want. Big muscles and ripped abs are visually impressive, I'll admit.

However, I've seen a lot of impressive looking guys fold up and puke during real physical

tests. I remember a basic school trainee, guy had been a bodybuilder and was impressive

in appearance. Good proportions, real low bodyfat and looked real strong. The class was

initiated into relay races. Duck walks, crab walks, bear crawls, two man wheel barrows

and anything else the trainers could think of. Seventy five yards down and back for two

hours. The bodybuilder folded and puked. In fact, he didn't look all that great the next day

either.  Think of some really big, strong guys that you know. The kind that can bench

several hundred pounds. I'll bet a good number of them can't do a pull up. Am I saying

don't go near a weight pile ever again? No, I'm saying be smart about your training.

Training like a bodybuilder will give you big arms and ripped abs but remember that's the

goal of that program. Strength is a secondary consideration. For practical purposes we

need to reverse this thinking. I would also suggest looking at bodyweight exercises,

pushups, pullups, dips, Indian pushups and squats etc. These can be done anywhere, you

don't need equipment and they tend to truly supplement combative skills. Think you need

more weight to get gains? Try one arm pushups, pullups and one leg squats. In my

humble opinion, weights should be a supplement, not a primary training method.

    Endurance has two subsections anaerobic and aerobic. Let's first look at running. Love

it or hate it running has been a foundation in most fitness programs. Military basic

training, state police academies, basic SWAT schools, to name just a few, place an

emphasis on distance running for aerobic conditioning. When most run they lope along

mile after mile. They may have great aerobic capacity but their anaerobic threshold is

often limited.  I have also observed that those who run only distance tend to lose

explosiveness in some movements. How do we counter this? Partly through proper

strength training, including some plyometric exercises. Partly by taking one or two days a

week and running wind sprints. What I usually do is warm up and then run a mile and a

half for time. I'll then walk for several minutes to catch my breath. I then cover half a

mile or so alternating 100 yard wind sprints with easy 100 yard jogging. I've found both

my anaerobic conditioning and my general running speed improve. The final way to get

conditioned anaerobically is use your art, be it wrestling, kung fu, boxing whatever.

Come up with some short sets or combinations that work for you. Drill them as hard as

you can, preferably against a bag or a training partner (disclaimer: always use proper

protective equipment) when you are too tired to move explosively stop and move to a

different type of work in your routine.

    My thinking on flexibility has changed radically over the years. At one time I would

never dream about training without first stretching. Partly because that was the prevailing

thought at the time. Partly because I used to watch, pretty regularly, a guy absolutely

destroy himself because he would never stretch before trying to throw high kicks and then

falling to the floor screaming in pain. What can I say, some folks are just slow learners.

More recently, however, my thinking as changed. After reading some research and using

myself as a guinea pig I've discovered that, for me, the best way to practical flexiblity is

to warm up thoroughly, then perform my kicks in sets. The first at quarter speed, then

half, three quarters and then all out. Finally, I'll hit the bag. Once done with this I'll move

to combinations. If I'm pressed for time I'll just throw the combinations starting slowly

and working my way up in speed. When I've finished my workout I'll stretch as part of

my cooldown. This seems to work very well for me. My various tools get sharpened and I

find that anytime during the day I can snap out a kick without injury. 

    Listen, before you start writing in saying I don't know what I'm talking about

remember, this is just my opinion. All I'm calling for is a perspective check. Just sit down

and ask yourself 'What am I training for?'